No arsonist on the loose: Windsor, Wolfville, Hantsport fire chiefs address community concerns over spring calls

Although there’s been some speculation in the community over some of the fire calls this spring, Windsor fire chief Jamie Juteau, Wolfville fire chief Todd Crowell and Hantsport deputy fire chief Paul Maynard say the cases they’ve attended are explainable. - Carole Morris-Underhill

HANTSPORT, N.S. —

Although it may seem like there has been more residential fire calls lately, and speculation has been swirling in the community about a possible arsonist, local firefighters would like citizens to know that’s simply not the case.

Hantsport deputy fire chief Paul Maynard said they’ve been hearing rumours this spring about a possible arsonist on the loose.

“There’s been a lot of chatter and posts recently both on social media and even at the provincial government level... expressing some concerns over the number of fires we’ve been experiencing in the valley over the last few months,” said Maynard, noting it’s been compounded by the tragic death of seven Syrian children in February.

“All the local fires that we’ve experienced have been thoroughly investigated by the fire department investigators, office of the fire marshal, insurance investigators, and in some cases, electrical engineers and in almost all of these calls or incidents — with the caveat that some are still being actively investigated — we’ve determined a cause,” said Maynard.

“We want to reassure the community that there’s no criminal aspect or arsonist on the loose.”

Windsor fire chief Jamie Juteau said the town department has responded to four structure-related fire calls since Jan. 1, with the cause of one still under investigation. The other fires were determined to be electrical in nature, one involving a water heater, one involving an electric heater and the other involving a cooking appliance.

The fire that’s under investigation, which received ample media attention, took place on King Street in the early morning hours of March 28 and saw the heroic rescue of a family. Juteau said there are multiple investigators working on that file.

Wolfville fire chief Todd Crowell said his department has responded to quite a few mutual aid calls, but only two residential structure fires this year — and both were not suspicious in nature.

Of the six structure fire calls that Hantsport has received, Maynard said they all have a cause, either electrical or chimney-related.

“A lot of people think that chimney fires are fairly routine and really, I speak for all of us here, a lot of the chimney fires we’ve had this year have not been routine,” said Maynard.

“They’ve breached the liners, they’ve breached the chimneys — they’ve gotten into the walls,” he continued.

Although regular cleaning and maintenance will often prevent a chimney fire, Maynard said sometimes that’s not enough.

At a recent chimney fire, the “homeowners were very diligent in cleaning their chimney” but the pipe leading from the wood stove to the outside was severely rusted.

“It resulted in hot ashes and sparks fell into the void space between the outside and inside wall,” said Maynard.

“We figure, looking at it with the fire investigator... it probably smouldered for quite a period of time before it actually developed enough to breach the outside wall.”

Thankfully, Maynard said, the homeowners were home when the fire broke out and called 911.

“My advice, really, is not only to clean your chimney but have it professionally inspected on a regular basis to make sure there’s no cracks or splits in the pipes or breaks in the mortar because those can definitely cause significant issues when fire breaks out,” said Maynard.

Firefighters say a local family was lucky they were home and called 911 after noticing smoke. A fire started burning through a rusted section of pipe that led from the wood stove to the outside of their home. - Contributed

RCMP INVESTIGATE CALLS

The Office of the Fire Marshall referred all questions about arson and local fire calls to Nova Scotia Communications staff. Krista Higdon provided the following statement: “We do see an increase in fires in heating season (e.g. increase in chimney fires, etc.). All questions related to ‘suspicious’ fires would be a law enforcement matter and should be directed to law enforcement.”

RCMP Staff Sgt. Cory Bushell, of the Windsor District RCMP, said they have not investigated any suspicious fires in Windsor or Hantsport between January and the beginning of May.

Since 2018, the RCMP have responded to 38 calls relating to fires, but that figure represents all of Hants County.

“They range from a vehicle that catches fire while it’s driving down the highway to a grass fire that gets out of control to children playing with matches to fires that are suspicious in nature,” said Bushell in an interview.

One person was charged with arson in 2018, and that case is currently before the courts. The man is accused of damaging the Nova Scotia Housing Development Corporation’s property on Avon Street in Windsor in October.

Bushell said the call volume hasn’t been out of the ordinary and doesn’t feel there’s cause for concern.

“As far as police being concerned that there’s an arsonist about, we’re not,” said Bushell.

“The number of calls for service appear to be typical in nature, however, police are always vigilant when it comes to insurance fraud, when it comes to a fire which may be intentionally set to cause mischief or damage to somebody’s property,” he added. “Every fire that we attend, we do so with an eye toward investigation and detection of criminal activity.”

Windsor firefighters were called to an apartment fire on Underwood Drive April 9, 2019. Tenants were temporarily evacuated while firefighters investigated. - Carole Morris-Underhill

TIPS FOR SAFETY

When it comes to preventing fires, the chiefs say maintenance is key — but fires can happen at any time, in both older and newer style homes.

“When you’re doing renovations on a home, please ensure that you are consulting with your local building officials to ensure things are put to code and ensure that things aren’t done that are going to cause a problem in the future if there is a fire,” said Juteau.

For example, false or suspended ceilings may seem like a convenience when renovating but should a fire get into the space between, it makes fighting a fire much more difficult.

With the electrical fires the volunteers have been witnessing as of late, making sure appliances are working properly is key.

“If you have an appliance in your house or apartment and it’s not working properly, please determine why that is and don’t just keep hoping for the best with it,” stressed Juteau.

“If something electrical isn’t working properly, there’s a reason for that. It doesn’t take a whole lot to cause a fire. You have to be diligent in that regard.”

Having smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed are also important safety tools.

Juteau said they’ve noticed people are silencing fire alarms at apartment complexes and urges them not to.

“We have a lot of issues with people going and resetting alarms because they know where the key is for the alarm panel. So they’ll go and silence the alarm and reset it because they don’t want to listen to it. Who knows if there’s a fire in the basement that they don’t know about,” said Juteau.

Those people could be held liable if there was an active fire.

“The only people that should be silencing alarms is the fire crew... once they’ve ensured that everybody is out and they’ve got a handle on what’s happening.”